Vector Packet Processing

Introduction.

The VPP platform is an extensible framework that provides out-of-the-box production quality switch/router functionality. It is the open source version of Cisco's Vector Packet Processing (VPP) technology: a high performance, packet-processing stack that can run on commodity CPUs.

The benefits of this implementation of VPP are its high performance, proven technology, its modularity and flexibility, and rich feature set.

For more information on VPP and its features please visit the FD.io website and What is VPP? pages.

Directory layout.

Directory name	Description

 build-data        | Build metadata
 build-root        | Build output directory
 doxygen           | Documentation generator configuration
 dpdk              | DPDK patches and build infrastructure
 g2                | Event log visualization tool
 perftool          | Performance tool
 plugins           | VPP bundled plugins directory

@ref svm | Shared virtual memory allocation library test | Unit tests @ref vlib | VPP application library source @ref vlib-api | VPP API library source @ref vnet | VPP networking source @ref vpp | VPP application source @ref vpp-api | VPP application API source vppapigen | VPP API generator source vpp-api-test | VPP API test program source @ref vppinfra | VPP core library source

(If the page you are viewing is not generated by Doxygen then ignore any @@ref labels in the above table.)

Getting started.

In general anyone interested in building, developing or running VPP should consult the VPP wiki for more complete documentation.

In particular, readers are recommended to take a look at [Pulling, Building, Running, Hacking, Pushing](https://wiki.fd.io/view/VPP/Pulling,_Building,_Run ning,_Hacking_and_Pushing_VPP_Code) which provides extensive step-by-step coverage of the topic.

For the impatient, some salient information is distilled below.

Quick-start: On an existing Linux host.

To install system dependencies, build VPP and then install it, simply run the build script. This should be performed a non-privileged user with sudo access from the project base directory:

./build-root/vagrant/build.sh

If you want a more fine-grained approach because you intend to do some development work, the Makefile in the root directory of the source tree provides several convenience shortcuts as make targets that may be of interest. To see the available targets run:

make

Quick-start: Vagrant.

The directory build-root/vagrant contains a VagrantFile and supporting scripts to bootstrap a working VPP inside a Vagrant-managed Virtual Machine. This VM can then be used to test concepts with VPP or as a development platform to extend VPP. Some obvious caveats apply when using a VM for VPP since its performance will never match that of bare metal; if your work is timing or performance sensitive, consider using bare metal in addition or instead of the VM.

For this to work you will need a working installation of Vagrant. Instructions for this can be found [on the Setting up Vagrant wiki page] (https://wiki.fd.io/view/DEV/Setting_Up_Vagrant).

More information.

Several modules provide documentation, see @subpage user_doc for more information.

Visit the VPP wiki for details on more advanced building strategies and development notes.